World’s First All-Electric Airplane Soars in Vancouver

With all of the progress being made on electric vehicles, there has only been a trickle of entrants into the electric airplane space. We’re excited to see a milestone achieved this past weekend, however, with the (short) flight of the world’s first all-electric harbor plane. If you’ve been to Alaska or British Columbia, you’ve seen the elegant seaplanes take off and soar over the snow-capped peaks. All of these short flights are compounded when the planes are burning dirty fuel, so it makes a lot of sense to see a short-range airplane retrofitted to fly on battery power. The six-seater Harbour Air ePlane has an engine designed by Australian engineering firm MagniX, and took a fifteen minute flight over the scenic area, before landing rather quietly to a waiting audience.

The plane marks the start of a potential new era of flight, where electric flights could dramatically cut down on carbon emissions, making the term friendly skies actually more meaningful. And with over 2.5% of all global emissions coming from air travel, it’s clear we need more options like this. Bravo. Via Dezeen:

“Today, we made history,” said McDougall. “I am incredibly proud of Harbour Air’s leadership role in re-defining safety and innovation in the aviation and seaplane industry.”

              -Harbour Air CEO and founder Greg McDougall